Establishing who has access to the channel and its production resources is always complicated. There can be numerous resources and several different ways to access each resource. In some cities, individual departments must provide the resources to produce a program and the channel coordinates production and equipment. This is almost like hiring a video production company, except it is in-house, and by comparison, very inexpensive.
Other cities try to fit city departments into the established series programs such as news and magazine shows. Depending on the goals for the channel, some shows will get priority and get made immediately, other are completed if the budget allows. Another way includes having all city departments send the channel their show requests on an quarterly or biannual basis. Those with the highest priority get made with the available resources.
In other cities, the government access channel has a limited number of staff and a fixed budget. The staff tries to facilitate as many shows as they can handle and take requests on a first-come, first-serve basis from eligible users. Channel managers may create the programming ideas based on suggestions from the city departments and the community. The channel manager makes the decisions based upon the perceived need for the program, the interest the program may have from the viewing audience, and resources available.
There are no hard and fast rules in this area. The methods above can be blended to meet your particular situation. A good program requires a partnership between the government access channel staff and the various departments.